Gibney earns career achievement award

Alex Gibney, Laura Poitras and Geralyn Dreyfous will receive special honors from the International Documentary Assn. at the 2013 IDA Documentary Awards on Dec. 6.

Gibney will be feted with a career achievement award at the IDA’s 29th annual gala, which will be held at the Director’s Guild. The prolific filmmaker’s latest efforts include this year’s “The Armstrong Lie” and “We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks.” Gibney’s 2007 pic “Taxi to the Dark Side” won an Oscar for best documentary feature, an Emmy for individual achievement in research, a best director nom from the DGA and a Writer’s Guild Award for best screenplay.

Dreyfous will receive the Amicus Award, a prize that has only been presented three other times in the history of the IDA Awards, to Michael Donaldson, John Hendricks and Steven Spielberg. Dreyfous’ credits include 2004’s “Born Into Brothels,” which won an Academy Award for documentary feature, and the 2012 Oscar-nominated doc “The Invisible War.” Dreyfous is also co-founder of Impact Partners Film Fund, an organization that brings financiers and filmmakers together to create documentaries focused on social change.

The IDA’s Courage Under Fire Award will be presented to Poitras in recognition of “conspicuous bravery in the pursuit of truth.” Along with Glenn Greenwald, Poitras broke the story of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, pulling the curtain back on the PRISM program.

Poitras is working on a trilogy of films about America post-9/11, the first of which, “My Country, My Country” (2006), was nominated for an Oscar, an Independent Spirit Award and an Emmy. The second pic, “The Oath” (2010), received a Gotham Award for best documentary and the Sundance Film Festival Award for excellence in cinematography for documentaries. The third film in the trilogy, a documentary about NSA surveillance, is currently in post.

Past recipients of the Courage Under Fire Awards include Jonathan Stack and James Brabazon, Andrew Berends, Saira Shah and Christiane Amanpour.